Offshore Drilling and Exploration

Vanessa Vick for The New York Times

News about Offshore Drilling and Exploration, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 23, 2015

Obama administration authorizes Shell to begin drilling for oil in Arctic Ocean in summer of 2015, but limits activity to top of seabed; permit blocks company from penetrating into oil reserves until safety equipment meant to stop spills is put in place, but environmentalists have nonetheless condemned move. MORE

Jul. 8, 2015

Royal Dutch Shell says icebreaker carting equipment for Arctic drilling was forced to return to dock due to hull damage. MORE

Jun. 3, 2015

Chevron and other big oil players face daunting problems with their operations in North Sea; plummeting oil prices and increased extraction costs due to aging infrastructure have made efficiency questionable at best; companies are attempting to trim operations and seek new ways to bolster extraction as they seek to preserve energy region that gives Europe one of its only hedges against reliance on foreign oil. MORE

May. 26, 2015

Student activist Chiara D'Angelo ends three-day protest, in which she hung from anchor chain of an oil-drilling platform, over Royal Dutch Shell's plans to drill for oil. MORE

May. 19, 2015

Hundreds of demonstrators protesting Royal Dutch Shell's use of seaport terminal to prepare for exploratory oil drilling in Arctic Ocean block port entrances; Seattle city officials declare that Shell and its maritime host Foss Maritime lack proper permit. MORE

May. 15, 2015

Polar Pioneer, one of two oil drilling rigs that Royal Dutch Shell intends to park in Seattle harbor, arrives in city despite protest from officials and environmentalists; rigs are awaiting start of Arctic drilling season. MORE

May. 13, 2015

Port of Seattle's board votes to ask Foss Maritime to delay hosting of Shell's arctic drilling rigs, spurred by public pressure over company plans to use Puget Sound as home port for summer drilling operation in Alaska; vote does not rescind lease signed allowing Shell to use space, nor does it compel any delay; reflects debate that in many ways is proxy fight over Shell's drilling and, by extension, climate change. MORE

May. 13, 2015

Environmentalists have reacted with outrage to Obama administration's announcement that it will allow Shell to drill for oil off Alaskan coast, particularly due to what they say is Shell's dismal safety record in Arctic drilling; many experts have cautioned that Arctic drilling is enormously risky, and environmentalists have pushed for ceasing all drilling in the region. MORE

May. 13, 2015

News Analysis; environmentalists and some energy experts suggest that Pres Obama's opening up of Arctic waters for oil and gas drilling could put his environmental legacy at risk; tension between Obama's legacy on environment and energy is evident in that he has pushed for carbon emissions reductions and major global warming accord even as he has overseen vast expansion of domestic energy production. MORE

May. 13, 2015

Editorial holds Royal Dutch Shell's plan to drill for oil off the coast of Alaska remains dangerous, but acknowledges prospect of catastrophe has been reduced by government regulation; notes spill in region would be devastating for large fish populations and other wildlife; examines new rules that have forced company to spend heavily on safety protocols. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Obama administration grants Shell oil company conditional approval to begin drilling in Chukchi Sea off Alaskan coast, angering environmentalists and signaling victory for oil industry; both industry and environmentalists agree that area presents numerous dangers to drilling, and environmentalists warn that spill there could have catastrophic consequences. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Coalition of activist kayakers is gearing up for showdown in Elliott Bay to protest Royal Dutch Shell's plan to use Port of Seattle for its Arctic drilling fleet. MORE

May. 5, 2015

Apr. 22, 2015

Editorial underscores damage done to Gulf of Mexico by 2010 BP oil spill and warns of lasting and continuing consequences, despite BP reports suggesting otherwise; points out that spill has yielded some unlikely benefits, including overhaul of drilling regulations and large environmental fund built from BP fines; urges officials to ensure that funds are used to replenish gulf's fragile ecosystem. MORE

Apr. 14, 2015

Interior Department proposes new rule for offshore oil and gas rigs meant to improve equipment standards and well designs and avoid devastating spill like 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in Gulf of Mexico. MORE

Apr. 11, 2015

Interior Dept is planning to announce major new regulation on offshore oil and gas drilling, timed to coincide with five-year anniversary of catastrophic BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, which will tighten safety requirements on blowout preventers; BP spill was in part due to malfunction in blowout preventer. MORE

Mar. 21, 2015

Judge Mariane Spearman of King County Superior Court in Washington State rules that lawsuit challenging Port of Seattle's decision to lease one of its terminals to Royal Dutch Shell, which plans to base its Arctic oil drilling fleet there, can go forward. MORE

Mar. 19, 2015

Only 195 bids are placed for oil leases in central parts of Gulf of Mexico, signaling decline in interest in new oil and gas exploration due to low price of oil. MORE

Mar. 14, 2015

Seattle residents are up in arms over Port of Seattle lease agreement with Royal Dutch Shell that would allow the petrochemical giant to bring its Arctic Ocean drilling rigs to the city’s waterfront. MORE

Mar. 7, 2015

BP announces agreement to invest about $12 billion with partner to develop national gas resources in Egypt; project will develop quantity of offshore gas that is equivalent to around fourth of Egypt's current output and could be boon for Pres Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government; agreement may signal that country's rocky relations with international oil industry are improving. MORE

Feb. 14, 2015

Federal Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown dismisses 2013 suit brought by Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, which claimed energy companies' drilling and dredging led to erosion of state's coast and fragile wetlands and that restoration efforts were likely to cost some $50 billion in coming decades. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Interior Dept plans to open up large area of Atlantic Seaboard to oil and gas drilling, in move lauded by the industries and condemned by environmentalists; decision is latest installment of five-year proposal for government to sell leases for oil and gas drilling in federal waters from 2017 to 2022; administration will ban drilling in parts of Arctic Ocean. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Pres Obama's proposal to ban energy exploration on 12 million acres of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be designated wilderness elicits angry and bitter reaction from Alaska residents and political leaders; Sen Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chairwoman of Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, calls announcement 'a stunning attack on our sovereignty.' MORE

Jan. 6, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column opposes Royal Dutch Shell's plan to continue oil exploration in the hazardous Arctic Sea, despite disaster that befell the Kulluk drilling rig in 2012; argues there are panoply of reasons to leave region's deep oil fields until a later date, when regulation, demand and technology will have improved. MORE

Jan. 4, 2015

McKenzie Funk article describes the failed attempt by Royal Dutch Shell to drill for oil in the US Chukchi Sea in the Arctic, after spending more than six years of effort and millions of dollars spent customizing Kulluk, extremely large oil rig, for the task. MORE

Dec. 20, 2014

North Sea oil producers in Great Britain are being hit hard by falling oil prices; low prices could mean many older oil and gas fields will be shut down, and $27 billion worth of new development could be dropped, threatening jobs of nearly half million workers in industry. MORE

Dec. 17, 2014

Pres Obama indefinitely bans oil and gas exploration of Alaska's Bristol Bay, signing executive memorandum to protect ecologically sensitive area that is home to variety of marine life; environmentalists praise decision to extend ban, which was set to expire in 2017. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil giant, is counting on future in deepwater production; it hopes to shed its reputation as a lumbering monopoly and to remake itself into a streamlined company that can compete or ally with the world’s biggest firms. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

Pres Nicos Anastasiades suspends talks on reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus in response to plans by Turkey to search for oil and gas in waters where Cyprus has already licensed companies to drill. MORE

Aug. 29, 2014

Royal Dutch Shell submits plan to the federal government, trying once again to explore for oil in the Alaskan Arctic following years of setbacks and dogged opposition from environmentalists; notes that it has not made final decision on whether to drill in the summer of 2015, but that filing preserves the option; proposal would consist of two rigs working simultaneously in the Chukchi Sea, which could produce more than 400,000 barrels a day. MORE

Aug. 10, 2014

Two-and-a-half month standoff over Chinese oil rig illustrates the long reach of China’s nautical ambitions, but broader issues over sovereignty in South China Sea, and who has rights to extract oil and gas in the region, remain far from resolved. MORE

Jul. 23, 2014

Exxon Mobil moves forward in its project assisting Russian state energy company Rosneft in exploring Arctic Ocean for oil and natural gas, even as pressure mounts to impose sanctions against Russia after downing of passenger airline in Ukraine. MORE

Jul. 19, 2014

Obama administration approves guidelines for seismic searches for oil and gas deposits in Atlantic Ocean, handing petroleum industry significant victory in bitter dispute with environmental groups over impact of such searches on marine life. MORE

Jul. 16, 2014

State-owned Chinese energy company announces that giant oil rig deployed in disputed waters off coast of Vietnam has completed its exploration work and will be moved. MORE

Jun. 20, 2014

Chinese government, one day after tough talks between Vietnam and China that made no progress over Chinese oil rig in South China Sea, says it is sending second rig to waters close to Vietnam; move is signal China will press ahead to secure what it sees as its rights in commercially and strategically vital waterway. MORE

Jun. 19, 2014

China and Vietnam exchange sharp views in their dispute over a Chinese oil rig deployed in contested waters in the South China Sea near Vietnam’s coast; China accuses Vietnam of interfering in operations and warns it will takes measures to ensure rig's safety; Vietnam says China has violated its sovereignty and breached regional and international agreements. MORE

Jun. 18, 2014

Pres Obama announces his intention to use executive authority to create the world’s largest marine protected area in the south-central Pacific Ocean; it is an effort to protect diverse habitats of coral reefs, whales, dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and numerous fish species from commercial fishing, offshore drilling and other activities. MORE

Jun. 6, 2014

Report from the Chemical Safety Board finds that another disastrous offshore oil well blowout could happen despite regulatory improvements following the 2010 explosion of a BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. MORE

May. 31, 2014

Norway's Coast Guard tows away Greenpeace ship that tried to block a Norwegian company's rig from drilling the world's most northerly oil well in the Barents Sea. MORE

May. 28, 2014

Chinese vessel rams and sinks Vietnamese fishing boat near Chinese oil rig parked in disputed waters off Vietnam's coast; nations trade accusations over incident, escalating tensions and aggravating diplomatic relationship that was already at its worst point in decades. MORE

May. 27, 2014

Chinese fishing vessel rams and sinks Vietnamese fishing boat near Chinese deepwater oil rig that was placed in disputed waters off coast of Vietnam; collision is likely to escalate already high tensions between the two countries over the oil rig. MORE

May. 24, 2014

Vietnamese woman sets herself on fire in downtown Ho Chi Minh City to protest China’s positioning of an oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam. MORE

May. 18, 2014

Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine has given it maritime zone that is more than three times size of Crimean landmass, with rights to underwater resources potentially worth trillions of dollars; move has given Russia dominion over vast oil and gas reserves while dealing a crippling blow to Ukraine's hopes for energy independence. MORE

May. 18, 2014

Vietnamese officials signal that further violence over a dispute with China will not be tolerated, declaring that more than 300 people involved in attacks on foreign-owned businesses will be prosecuted; outburst of looting and arson that left scores of factories flattened in Vietnam was triggered by China's deployment of deep-sea oil rig in disputed waters of South China Sea off Vietnam's coast. MORE

May. 15, 2014

Thousands of Vietnamese workers rampage, setting fire to dozens of foreign-owned factories after China places an oil rig in disputed waters off Vietnam's coast without warning; riots mark a rare outpouring of popular outrage over China's increasingly insistent claims to strategically important, resource-rich seas; in their rage, however, Vietnamese workers appear to have misdirect their anger, attacking businesses from South Korea and Taiwan that took the risk of investing in their nation. MORE

May. 14, 2014

Thousands of workers rampage through an industrial area in southern Vietnam following protest against China's stationing of an oil rig in disputed waters off country's coast; territorial dispute has unleashed some of the worst civil unrest in recent years and has prompted what appears to be a news media blackout by the government. MORE

May. 13, 2014

China and Vietnam appear to have reached at least a temporary impasse over giant drilling rig sent by state-controlled Chinese oil company to site in South China Sea between Vietnam coast and cluster of disputed islands; confrontation continues to raise thorny issues of international law. MORE

May. 10, 2014

China inflames tensions with Vietnam by moving its first deepwater drilling rig to position about 17 miles off an island claimed by both countries in South China Sea; move signals that China is more willing to act first and invite diplomacy later in dealing with territorial claims. MORE

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An icebreaker carrying a key piece of equipment for Arctic drilling planned by Royal Dutch Shell off the northern coast of Alaska was forced to return to dock after a hole more than three feet long was discovered in its hull.